


Hollow Heart

by Eternally_Exhausted



Series: AUs & Crossovers [3]
Category: The LEGO Movie (2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:54:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28374240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternally_Exhausted/pseuds/Eternally_Exhausted
Summary: He was doomed to remain alone in his castle, trapped in this monstrous form until he could learn to love. But time is cruel to memory...(Obligatory Beauty and the Beast AU)
Series: AUs & Crossovers [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1359772
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue

_Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Octan, there was a king whose tyranny was known far and wide. The oppression of his people was such that it could not be ignored. Many brave souls tried to put an end to his reign of terror, but all were met with failure. None could withstand the power of his enchanted sword and armor. Finally, left with no other choice, the people turned to the great wizard Vitruvius and begged for his help. The wizard agreed, and went to the king’s castle._

_When the wizard arrived, the king tried to turn him away, but Vitruvius’ magic was as strong as his own. Their battle was terrible, but the wizard managed to get the upper hand and cursed him, dooming him to remain in a monstrous form that matched his monstrous heart, until he could learn to love, and to give selflessly. The king slayed the wizard in his anger, and, horrified with his beastly new image, sequestered himself in his castle._

_Time passed, and the king and his castle passed from memory with it…_


	2. Chapter 1

Days in the little village of Bricksburg were all the same. The twins rose early, tended to the farm and the few animals they still had, then made breakfast and checked on their younger brother. Life had been rough since their parents had passed unexpectedly the year before, and Keelan had never been able to shake the illness that had claimed their mother and father. It was a miracle that he hadn’t succumbed as well, sickly as he’d always been, but he held in there. Their struggle to make ends meet didn’t help with that either, as they couldn’t afford the medicine that could put an end to his illness once and for all. Not for the length of time he would need it. But they were managing.

And then a new person moved into town. He was an Academy astronomer who’d been looking to set up an observatory away from the lights of the city that drowned out the stars. He was quirky, but he was kind, and helpful, and most notably, well-funded. Many of the townspeople tried to curry favors from him, but it was the three brothers he was drawn to. Benny learned very quickly that the twins performed many odd jobs around the village, from patching leaky roofs to quelling rowdy customers at the small inn, when they came to offer help in building his observatory. Perhaps they had the rest of the village fooled, but Benny knew very well what desperation looked like, and agreed to hire them. He was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their work, and as time went on, they became friends. Several weeks after the completion of his observatory, they finally felt comfortable enough to introduce him to their younger brother and explain their situation to him.

“There’s not much work to be found in a small town like this,” Alastar explained, “but we don’t dare leave to try to find work in the city. We can’t leave Keelan alone here, and the move might well make his illness worse, and we’d have no money left for even a small dose of medicine for him. Besides, this is home.”

“I understand,” Benny said. “Don’t you guys worry about it, I’ll head back to the city and get Keelan’s medicine.”

“You- you would do that?” Cary asked, stunned at his generosity.

“Of course!” Benny chirped. “I actually _like_ you guys, you’re genuine. I swear most other people are only nice to me cause I’ve got money, the moment I tell them I’m not interested in false friendships I’m immediately ‘the outsider’ or ‘the weirdo’. I’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

“ _Thank you_ ,” Alastar said fervently, wiping away tears.

And just as Benny said, he left the next morning. It was a trip that took roughly a week to complete. He found the medicine Keelan needed, and finished some other business while he was at the Academy, making arrangements to have the rest of his belongings brought to his new home in Bricksburg. Satisfied that everything was taken care of, he made the return trip back to Bricksburg.

Or tried to. It got unexpectedly dark very suddenly, and the wind kicked up, tearing at the trees surrounding the path. Benny shouted his pain as his horse spooked and threw him, sitting where he fell for a minute as he tried to regain the breath that had been knocked from him during his rough landing. He cringed as he rubbed the knot where he’d smacked a tree branch with his head. “Stupid horse,” he grumbled, and carefully pushed himself to his feet. Everything ached from the fall, but nothing seemed broken. He glanced around as the first fat raindrops began to fall. The woods were nearly pitch black now as the storm started, and he was still miles away from the village. He tried to follow the path in the lightning flashes, but quickly got lost.

He was soaked through by the time he stumbled upon the rusty old gates. Benny blinked, trying to shield his eyes from the rainfall to get a look at the black shape that loomed before him. Another flash of lightning helped him out.

It was a castle!

Benny stared for a long while. He could vaguely remember there had once been a castle somewhere in the vicinity of these woods, but he’d thought it would have long since fallen into ruin.

It looked like someone had been taking care of it.

Benny decided he didn’t much care. It was shelter, and he needed to dry out before he caught cold, or worse. He was already chilled to the bone. He shoved one of the gates open and made his way inside; the massive doors swung open easily. “Hello?” he called out, but no reply came. “Well at least it’s dry in here, and there’s no wind… what I wouldn’t give for a fire though…”

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, a sconce on the wall burst into flame. Benny stared. It flickered merrily at him, and then another further down the hall lit all by itself. Mystified, Benny followed the sconces as one by one they lit up, until he found himself facing a blazing fire safely sequestered in a fireplace, with a pair of very comfortable-looking chairs placed in front of it. “How thoughtful,” Benny murmured, shrugging off his pack and plopping down in one of the chairs. It was every bit as comfortable as it looked, and moreso. He dug through his pack, sighing in relief when he pulled out the bottle of medicine, still intact by some miracle. “At least that’s safe.” He pulled off as much of his soaked clothing as he dared and wrung it out before laying it flat on the hearth to dry, then settled into the chair once more. He was soon sound asleep.

He woke sometime later, feeling chilled. The fire had gone out while he’d been asleep, and he wasn’t alone. His eyes widened as his gaze went up and up, finally landing on a glowing, red, jagged line that made up the other’s face. It was turned down in a very obvious frown.


	3. Chapter 2

While Benny was gone, the brothers did the best they could to keep themselves occupied until he returned. So great was their excitement that they had little left in the way of patience. Alastar took on as many odd jobs around town as he could find. Cary busied himself with tending to the animals and their small garden and ensuring Keelan’s comfort. Their hope and excitement certainly seemed to be doing the youngest Callaghan some good too; they couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such a long stretch of good days.

And then came the day Benny was meant to return.

But as the day stretched on, the astronomer failed to make an appearance. Noon passed, and then evening, and still no one had seen Benny return. Cary was growing increasingly worried, pacing their small cabin as they continued to wait. It was well after dark before Benny finally stumbled through their front door.

“Benny, what happened?!” Alastar gasped as Cary hurried forward to catch him.

“Did you guys know there’s a castle in the woods, a little ways off the road to the city?” the astronomer said numbly, leaning into Cary’s hold.

“A castle…?”

“Yeah. Big ominous thing, looks like nobody’s been there in decades it’s so overgrown but it’s somehow not falling apart.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Cary pressed.

“I got caught in the storm last night. Took shelter there. Stupid horse took off on me, no idea where she went… Probably got eaten by wolves…” He straightened up, eyes wide. “There’s a monster there!”

Cary gave him a dubious look. “Are you sure you didn’t just hit your head when your horse bolted?”

“I _did_ hit my head,” Benny admitted with a grumble. “But I swear to you, it wasn’t a hallucination or anything like that, I really saw it! It’s like ten feet tall and has these weird red horns and jagged teeth and no face and long sharp claws and was all big and bulky like… like a giant suit of armor, that somehow came to life.” Benny shivered. “It tried to make me its prisoner… I told it I couldn’t stay, that I had medicine for someone who was very sick-” He finally set his pack on the floor and opened it, pulling out the bottle in question and setting it on the table. He didn’t look back up at them after that, unable to meet their gazes again, his voice falling almost silent when he spoke again. “I only got it to let me go on the promise that I would return.”

The brothers were silent as that sank in. Cary looked nearly heartbroken. “You can’t go back…” he protested weakly.

“It said it’d hunt me down and kill me if I didn’t…”

“…What if someone else went in your stead?” Alastar suggested. The other two stared at him.

“Alastar, you can’t be serious-!”

“I am,” he said calmly. “Obviously one of us needs to be here for Keelan, but I can’t ask you to go. I can’t split you and Benny up.” Both men blushed at the insinuation.

“But Keelan needs _both_ of us-” Cary tried to protest.

“You’ve got Benny to help you now.”

“ _Alastar_ -”

“You can’t make me change my mind, Cary. I’m going. Benny, would you be a dear and show me the way, at least?”

It took Benny a minute to find his voice again. “…Yeah. Sure. I can do that.”

~* *~

They almost didn’t make it out of the cottage the next morning, Cary and Keelan both making an effort to get Alastar to stay. Keelan’s tears nearly had him. In the end though, he still managed to pull away, and said goodbye to his brothers and his home. Benny was silent for the duration of the trip, unable to shake the guilty feeling.

Finally they arrived at the massive wrought-iron gates. Benny bit his lip and pushed them open; they swung open soundlessly, permitting them entry. They’d only made it a few steps into the courtyard when a voice stopped them short.

“So you’ve returned after all, astronomer… And with company.”

Alastar felt his blood turn to ice when he finally spotted the owner of the voice. Benny’s description hadn’t really done the monster justice, but the astronomer had, at least, been right about its height. Alastar had never had to look _up_ at anyone before. The creature’s jagged mouth was turned down at the corners, clearly displeased with the unexpected development. Alastar squared his shoulders and stepped forward.

“I’ve come to bargain with you, to take Benny’s place as your prisoner.”


	4. Chapter 3

“I’ve come to bargain with you, to take Benny’s place as your prisoner.”

“Have you now?” Even without much of a face, it looked contemplative of the offer. “And why is that?”

“To show my gratitude, as it’s my brother that Benny’s medicine was for.” It leaned back, surprised at his answer. “And because I can’t bear the thought of separating Benny from Cary when they’ve only just found each other.”

“I… see,” the monster said, sneering. “How touching. Very well, I accept. Astronomer, you are free to go.”

“Alastar are you sure about this…”

“I haven’t changed my mind,” Alastar assured, and pulled Benny into a hug. “Look after them for me, yeah?”

Benny sniffled, hugging him back tightly. “I will…” he promised, and turned and left. The gates swung closed behind him of their own accord.

Alastar drew in a deep breath and turned back to glance up at the creature. “To the dungeons, then?” The monster didn’t answer at first. Alastar shivered; though he couldn’t see any eyes, he could feel its calculating gaze on him.

“…No,” the monster finally spoke. “Not the dungeons for you. I have something else in mind.” Alastar obeyed as it motioned for him to follow, curious to see what it had planned for him. Nothing bad, he hoped. “You left family behind. To come _here_.”

“Yes…”

“Why?”

Alastar gave him a look. Hadn’t he already explained himself? “Because Benny’s family too,” he answered. “Or. May very well _become_ family, I mean. It’s hard to say yet, we haven’t known him for very long, but Cary so rarely warms up to people so quickly, and that he was so willing to go and fetch Keelan’s medicine himself- and his taking shelter in your castle wasn’t intentional malice, but there _isn’t_ anywhere else along the city road to wait out a storm-”

“Still doesn’t explain why you would sacrifice yourself.”

“Because Benny’s _innocent_ , and I couldn’t leave him to this fate.” The creature didn’t respond further. Simply continued walking. Alastar looked around, trying to memorize where they were going, but the castle seemed a maze. Eventually they arrived at a door.

“This is to be your room, and no other in the castle,” the creature spoke. “Whatever you have need of, simply speak it out loud, and you will be heard.” Alastar stepped inside to look around, and flinched when the door slammed shut behind him.

“Thanks,” he sighed.

The room was spacious, though, nearly as big as their whole cottage just by itself. A peek behind another door showed an equally luxurious bathroom. There was no closet, but there was a wardrobe, which he discovered was empty upon opening it up. Beside it was an ornate full-length mirror taller even than himself. He ran a hand through his hair, taking in the rest of the details of the room.

It looked… rather like it was meant to host a lady, not a man. Either way, all the ornamentation was sure to drive him mad sooner or later. It was far too much for his liking. “Well, it _is_ a castle,” he sighed to himself. “Of course the décor would be all fancy and detailed and… entirely too much.”

Next order of business was finding a way to keep himself occupied. Though he searched the room from top to bottom, it offered nothing in the way of entertainment. “Might not be the dungeons, but it’s still a prison.” He pondered for a moment. His new ‘master’ hadn’t explicitly _forbidden_ him from exploring the castle… Mind made up, he made his way back toward the door and let himself out.

In the end, he got lost. The castle was _huge_ , and dimly lit, and every corridor looked exactly the same as the next. He found a dining room, which didn’t look like it had been used at all for the past century (no surprise there- his ‘host’ didn’t seem the entertaining sort), a sizeable library, and a hall filled with strange, eerie artifacts that honestly looked like a torture chamber, to him. He’d long since given up on trying to find his way back to his room again, and thus it was in the kitchen that the creature found him.

They stared at each other for a while, Alastar with plate of food in hand.

“…If you were hungry, why didn’t you just _ask_ for dinner?”

Alastar shrugged. “If I’m to be trapped here for the rest of my life, I should get to know my way around, shouldn’t I?” He frowned. “Or did you really think I’d stay put in that room?”

“I hoped I would at least have time to figure out what to do with you,” the creature grumbled in admittance.

“So what’s your name?”

The creature stared. “My name?”

“You do have one, don’t you? I mean I figured if we’re going to be… castle mates for the foreseeable future, I should have _something_ to call you other than just ‘you’ or ‘beast’.”

The creature almost looked uncomfortable, shuffling from one foot to the other. “It’s Sirius.”

Alastar titled his head. “How serious?”

The creature huffed. “No, Sirius is _my name_. After the star?”

Realization dawned on the prisoner. “ _Ohh_ , I see. I’m Alastar.”

“Charmed,” Sirius sneered. “Now come on, and _pay attention_ this time. I’m not showing you the way to your room again.”

“I did pay attention last time. It’s hardly my fault your castle is a maze.”

“Do you always talk back to your betters like this?”

Alastar raised his eyebrows. “My _better?_ You’re a walking talking suit of armor all by yourself in a castle no one even knows about, I don’t see how that makes you in any way superior to me.” Sirius hunched his shoulders and hissed, not speaking a word for the remainder of their walk. Alastar let out a yelp when he was shoved none too gently back into his room- and locked in, this time. “Must have hit a nerve,” he murmured.


End file.
